Hi guys, I'm a 36y/o otherwise healthy male living in the tropics of Puerto Rico.

Current symptoms: muscle fasciculations up and down my body, although none above my neck that I can tell. Mild, sometimes disappear for a few hours but mostly ongoing.

In my abdomen and lower abdomen area, it (or something else) feels like someone tapping me with a finger. Several times a day -- and this is the worst by far -- one of these taps will turn into an electric zap / jolt that startles me and has me jump up with a wince, increasing heart rate, etc. This makes it difficult to relax throughout the day.

I can feel the twitches / bumps more when laying down, so I'm a bit scared of going to bed at night because they either become more noticeable or just get worse.

I have a 2-month history of dealing with this. It started off pretty bad with huge electric jolts every few minutes that decreased in frequency over time and went away almost completely after a few weeks (I've also made huge diet changes that now exclude dairy / gluten / processed foods / etc).

For about 2 weeks the fasciculations also went away, but now they're back along with a miniature version of the jolts. Rather than posting my entire wall-of-text history of dealing with this, I just wanted to know if ANYONE out there experienced something similar?

Suffice it to say I have been to several ERs (bloodwork and abdomen CT is fine, take some Valium and see a neuro), neurologists (your neuro exam is normal), GIs (no parasites in stool, but you have scar tissue from 35 years ago in your lower abdomen, let's do all kinds of crazy colonoscopies and tests which I passed on), etc and everyone has their own opinion but nobody has diagnosed it. My stomach / digestion / everything is completely fine. The valium really helped once or twice when I needed it, but makes me super sleepy and I want to fix the underlying problem instead.

I can't be the only one to experience these symptoms...?

Hi slay2K,

I didn't have the fasciculation's, but I DID have the miniature electric shocks, that seemed to come from my head or neck.

They happened every minute or more, in a series, for years and years. And now they're GONE.

Now I have many other neurological problems but it wasn't until I read your post that I realized that my miniature electric shocks are gone.

I think they left because the area in my neck where they started is now 'unresponsive" in both nerve and muscle (dead).

Just 'relax' and enjoy the ride. You have something going on and medical science isn't at the point where it can clearly define what it is, slay2K.

I know you are afraid, as is normal. Fear is our worst enemy, but it can help us be persistent in our efforts to get answers.

Hugs, Elaine

Welcome to NeuroTalk...

Have you been tested for the Zika virus?

It is thought to be very damaging to the nervous system and brain.

Zika: The Epidemic at America's Door - Rolling Stone

Thanks for bringing that up, mrsD, but although I suspect this could be viral (neurotoxic) in nature, I don't think it is Zika / Dengue / Chikungunya (prevalent in Puerto Rico) for the following reasons.

1. Zika is asymptomatic in 80% of infected people
2. Zika only lasts a week in the blood so getting a test now would be fruitless as my symptoms started months ago
3. Zika's primary symptoms in the 20% of cases are things like fever, nausea, skin rash, joint pain or swelling, none of which I have had.
4. There's no evidence of Zika causing fasciculations / muscle twitches / electric shocks in a person, which are my main complaints.

I wish it was as easy as identifying a virus and just waiting it out. Ciguatera is actually closer in nature to what I have -- a fish neurotoxin that affects the gut. But I haven't eaten any fish here so there'd be no way for me to get it, and I don't have the classic cold/hot reversal symptoms. However the idea of a neurotoxic virus makes sense to me since my symptoms did improve over time (with the exception of the current "flare-up" state).

Hi Elaine,

Thank you for sharing your experience and I'm sorry about things going unresponsive on your end. Your shocks seemed different in the sense that mine don't feel like they come from the neck or head -- they're just twitches like the fasciculations in my legs and elsewhere. Except a small percentage of the time and primarily in my abdominal areas they have some "electric power" to them that startles me and makes me wince.

You're right about being persistent. I am pretty determined to get to the bottom of this, one way or another.

Hi Slay,

I don't know if this is good or bad news for you, but none of the symptoms you mention are unfamiliar to me. I have near-constant fasciculations in my legs, and the rest of my body is not immune to them, especially my back muscles.

Beyond that, I have widespread, "inappropriate" sensations that I describe as water dripping on me, feathers being dragged over my skin, socks being bunched up between my toes, stinging, zapping, burning, rushes, tightening in my temples, and the list goes on... And yes, my heart rate increases as well.

I strongly recommend you get some of this stuff to see if helps with the twitches. It definitely dialed mine back a good notch, but wasn't a complete cure. Still, it was a noticeable help and worth it. This is the generic version of a supplement called Slow-Mag.

Amazon.com: Special Pack of 5 -MAG 64 535MG RISI 6TB Rising PHARMACEUTICALS: Health & Personal Care

I know you probably feel crazy with all the symptoms you're having, but trust me, you're completely normal here.

Hi janieg, thanks for that!

Out of curiosity what's your serum magnesium level showing? I've been at a steady 2.20 on a normal range of 1.5 - 2.5.

I have some "Natural Calm" magnesium citrate powder that is gluten-free / vegan / non-GMO. Haven't been taking it religiously because I'm not showing all that low in serum, and because I didn't wanna be high in magnesium since that can actually cause twitching.

It doesn't look like the one you posted is gluten free which may be a problem for me, so I wonder how different they are in function.

Please let me know how long it took before you noticed a relief in symptoms, and thank you again!

I've not had my serum magnesium tested. I checked all tests run, and that was never one of them. No doc has ever batted an eye at my supplementation, but at my annual physical next month, I was going to ask for a full battery of electrolyte testing run. It looks like most are covered in the annual bloodwork done, but magnesium isn't.

I noticed an improvement pretty quickly. The twitching in my legs was unbelievable when this first hit, especially after exercise, so the improvement was noticeable. Like I said before, I still have that symptom, but it's greatly reduced.

I'm in the middle of a multi-week flare like I haven't had in a long time, and I just broke down and ordered a TENS device. I'll be reporting back on how/if it works.

Please do. Hope you feel better.

For those who think magnesium "isn't working" when orally taken, you might consider topical forms.

Areas under stress may have poor blood flow (constricted vessels) so the magnesium may not get into the tissues well.

Kirkman magnesium cream applied to the specific areas of the muscle twitching, may work better. Don't apply this all over the body in one application. Instead focus on an area only and rotate to another area the next day. Stress and inflammation do affect blood flow...and topically magnesium may get in better than oral.

A good test of this is a lukewarm tub of water, with epsom salts added. This usually relaxes stress and helps the body return to a more normal state.